This is very, very overdue, and I am so sorry. I know that the last chapter was probably boring as it comes, but in celebration of that beautiful Philinda we got to experience recently, I got inspired and got this down.
Thanks go out to its-amagicalplace for the prompt along with many others that I plan to use later. Also, you should check out their story- Academy Days. It's pretty awesome. And another thanks to symplymystery for inspiring two lines in here.
Chapter 9: Punishment and Keys
Phil hit the mat with a groan as Melinda flipped him on his back once again. "Can't I ever beat you?"
"Maybe one day, if you're lucky." Melinda gave him a teasing grin as she helped him up. The two of them had been partnered up more often than usual. Phil wasn't complaining, but he managed to remain on his feet a lot more when he was with Felix or Linda. Though he could now stay on two feet more often now than when he first was partnered with her. "But you are getting better."
"Doesn't feel like it," he scoffed, watching the other groups around them continue to spar in the combat class.
"You are," Melinda reassured him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "A couple weeks ago, you could barely stay on your feet, and now you can hold your own against me for a while. If you can do that with me, then anyone else is less than a challenge."
"Provided I get partnered up with someone else for a change," Phil muttered, not thinking. He slapped a hand over his mouth. "Not that I don't like being partnered with you or anything. You're-you're great as a partner. I like getting partnered with you because you're good. You're a good friend."
"Don't worry, Phil," she giggled. "I like getting partnered up with you too. It's nice to work with someone you know."
"Yeah," Phil smiled. "Yeah, I-"
"COULSON, MAY!"
Agent Orson's booming voice preceded 'The Bruiser', as John nicknamed him. Looking around, Phil realized that everyone had stopped fighting and were now staring at them. He and Melinda took a step apart from each other.
"When I give you time to practice the exercises," Orson growled at them. "I expect to see practicing going on, not flirting."
A wave of giggles rolled through the gym. Phil bit his lip and looked down. He hadn't been flirting with Melinda. Hell, he couldn't even flirt! Anyway, his little crush on Melinda was hopeless. She was out of his league, and would only ever see him as a friend.
Being in love with your friend sucked.
"Phil."
Melinda jabbed him in the ribs, and he realized he'd zoned out. "Sorry, what?"
Another round of laughter circulated the room, but it died out with an angry glare from Orson.
"What I was saying while you were off in lala land," Orson scowled at them once the gym was silent. "Is that I would like to see you and May demonstrate the moves you've learned in class so far today. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Phil said quietly. He shuffled back to his corner of the mat. Melinda was back in hers.
'You can do it,' she mouthed as Orson blew the whistle. Phil smiled at her.
There was a third round of laughter that day when he hit the ground four seconds later.
"Hey, Coulson! Nice job today!"
Malcolm Saxon was giving him a sneer when Phil exited the locker room into the hallway. Tori stood nearby, waiting for him and John.
"You know the world would be a better place if you shut up once in a while, Saxon." Phil shot back angrily, stepping forward.
Tori grabbed his arm. "Phil, just ignore them," she hissed. "All they want is a rise out of you."
He paused and sighed. Tori was right. Honestly, he just felt so embarrassed that he'd humiliated himself so many times in Orson's today. Almost everyone had been laughing at him, except for his friends and two other people he knew outside of them. No matter what he did, Phil felt like he was always going to screw up in the end.
"John still in there?" Tori asked politely, trying to keep his attention off of Saxon.
Phil's ears had other ideas.
"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING!"
Phil's voice sounded furious as John came out of the locker room. He saw there was a small crowd gathered around something, and went over to see what it was. When he peered over the heads of the other cadets, he froze. Malcolm Saxon was on the ground, a nasty bruise blooming under his eye. Phil was on top of him, shaking in anger.
"Aren't you protective of your girlfriend?" Saxon sneered up at his attacker. "As if she even notices you exist."
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Phil screamed as he shook Saxon. "Melinda got in fair and square, and so did I. So how about for once you just shut the f-"
A silence fell over everyone as Agent Orson pushed his way through the crowd. 'Oh shit,' John thought as he watched Phil release Saxon and turn to look up at the teacher. Tori came over to his side, eyes wide in shock.
"Saxon, medical wing," he ordered curtly. "Coulson, my office. Now."
Saxon scrambled off to the infirmary, but not before giving a nasty smirk to Phil. The other cadet ducked his head and trudged with Orson back to his office. Everyone else dispersed to their next class.
John looked over at Tori as they left the building. "What set him off?"
"Saxon pushed him too far," Tori said softly as they walked along the pathway.
"Hey, Tori!"
Melinda jogged up beside her as she exited the dining hall. "Do you know where Phil is?" she asked breathlessly. "I haven't seen him since this afternoon when we were sparring and people are saying that he got into trouble. Did something happen?"
"You didn't see?" Tori raised her eyebrow in innocence. She knew full well that Melinda had already gone off to her next class when Phil snapped.
"Felix and I were on our way to our next class, which happens to be on the other side of campus. So no, Tori," Melinda crossed her arms and stood in front of her. "Now what did Phil do?"
"He beat up Saxon." Tori couldn't help but grin. "Gave the jerk a black eye too!"
"That was Phil?!" Melinda looked shocked and a little impressed. "But why would he do that? He's not that kind of person who just beats up someone. In fact, he's the one who probably breaks up fights. Is he okay though? Saxon didn't hurt him?"
'Aww, she's concerned about him.' Tori smothered her smile and put on a neutral face.
"Phil is fine," she told Melinda calmly. "But Orson's making him clean up the gym mats right now since it's the end of the week."
"Why though?" Melinda's face scrunched up in a frown.
"Well, those mats are pretty gross. I guess someone's got to clean them," Tori said, feigning ignorance. Those mats were pretty gross. There was a reason she tried hard not to get taken down on them.
Melinda fell for her ruse. "No, no, why did Phil go after Saxon?"
"Ohhhhhh, that," Tori nodded as if she understood now. "Well, Saxon was giving Phil a pretty hard time about today, and then he started to talk crap about him. Phil sort of lost it then and took him down."
"I have to go find him." Melinda began to run off, then turned around. "Wait, where is he?"
"In the gym where we have Hand to Hand."
"Thanks Tori!"
The brunette smiled as Melinda ran off toward her destination. She slipped her hand into her pocket, toying with the key to the gym.
"Phil!"
Phil gazed up at the entrance when the doors slammed open. He almost dropped the cleaning spray and rag he was cleaning the mat with when he saw Melinda coming over toward him. "Hey," he greeted feebly, standing up.
Melinda rushed over to him, her hair billowing out regally. Then she punched him in the arm.
"Ow!"
"Why did you do that!" Melinda shouted at him. "You're not that kind of person, Phil Coulson. Do you know how freaked out me and Felix were when we couldn't find you at the end of classes? And then Tori tells me that you got in to a fight with Saxon and that Orson put you up to-to whatever the hell this is!"
"It's not that bad!" 'Once you get used to the stench' "I'm almost done anyway."
"That isn't the point, Phil," Melinda cried. "Why did you attack Saxon?"
Phil sighed as he turned to finish cleaning the last mat. "He was insulting you," he muttered.
"What?" Melinda looked shocked. "Tori told me that it was something he said about you!"
"Huh, she was there when it went down. Maybe she forgot about it, or she was tuning Saxon out," Phil mused as he wiped the map with the rag.
For a while, Melinda was silent. "What did he say?"
Phil stood up and faced her. "He started with stuff about me. Telling his buddies that I was 'pathetic' and the only reason I even got in here was because of my S.O. moving up the ranks in SHIELD."
"That's stupid!" Melinda looked outraged. "You may not be the best in Hand to Hand Combat, but you're pretty much one of the top students here."
He shrugged. "I know he's spouting a load of BS, but then he changed over to you. He said you were a 'show-off'-which is ridiculous-and that no one can stand you. Also not true. I lost it after he said you got in because of your mother and your S.O., and then I tackled him. Started shouting at him, punched him a few times."
Melinda was silent. He heaved a sigh and folded up the mat. 'Now I've embarrassed her,' Phil thought miserably.
"I know what he was saying was false," he told her. "Everyone here loves you, Melinda. You're one of the best, and Saxon's just a jealous….prick, that's all. But I'm not going to stand around and do nothing when one of my best friends is getting talked about behind their back. I don't like bullies, and I'll do whatever I can to defend the people who I care about. Probably beating Saxon up wasn't the smartest idea, but-"
He stopped when Melinda turned and gave him a hug. 'Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic,' his brain screamed at him as he awkwardly return the hug.
"Thanks, Phil." Melinda smiled at him when they broke apart a few seconds later.
"You're welcome," Phil shoved the cleaning supplies into the cabinet he'd gotten them from. "So you're not mad at me anymore?"
"Only that you got into trouble without me!" she said, making the two of them laugh. "Now let's get out of here. Friday's game night after all."
He nodded, and they walked out together to the exit. Phil reached out to open the door, and stumbled a bit when he couldn't yank it open.
It was locked. He pushed futilely. Nothing.
"It was open when I came in." Melinda looked confused. She tugged at the doors too, but they refused to open.
"They aren't now, and we're stuck here until they open up. What if we're stuck in here for the entire weekend?" he asked nervously. Getting stuck with Melinda wouldn't be the worst thing, but he didn't want to be stuck in here for an entire weekend after spending two hours cleaning the mats.
"At least I'm with you, and not alone," Melinda murmured as she crossed her arms and studied their surroundings. "But I think I can find a way out."
She grabbed his arm and dragged him with her up the stairs. "Follow me."
"Where are we going?" he asked as they stopped at a window.
Melinda pushed it open and crawled out onto the ledge. "Out."
"I told you to stop tossing it around." Linda scolded as Tori hefted to cover of the grate up. "But you didn't listen to me. Tori, what if they're locked in there all weekend?"
"They won't be!" snapped Tori, shoving the cover off to the side. "If we can't find it in here, then I'm sure someone else has one that we can use."
"Oh like who? Agent Orson?" Linda shook her head. "It's one thing to break into the office of a teacher to steal the key to the gym, but locking our friends inside it is a completely different one! And that's before you drop the key down a grate."
"Well, if you hadn't been telling me not to, then I might not have gotten distracted and missed catching it, and my hand would not be try and feel for it in all this shit." Tori glared at her friend. "Aren't you going to help me?"
"I didn't lose the key, and this wasn't my idea."
"Ugh. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean for this happen," Tori withdrew her hand. "We've got a quarter though."
"A quarter is not going to get our friends out of there. Remind me why we did this again?"
"Haven't you ever heard of locking people in closets before, Linda?"
Linda groaned when she realized what her friend had tried to do. "That's what you came up with?"
"You have a better idea?" Tori asked, scrunching up her face. "I really hope there aren't rats in here."
"Better than what?"
Linda whipped around to see Melinda and Phil coming up to them.
"Holy shit!" Tori swore, jumping back. "Where did you two come from?"
"We got locked in the gym," Phil explained, pointing behind them. "Melinda came to check on me while I was doing my punishment. When we tried to get out, the doors were locked. Luckily for us, Melinda knew a way out."
"So how did you get out if the door was locked?" Linda asked honestly. She was a terrible liar, but she had no idea how they had done it.
"She opened the window, and then we got out on the ledge and dropped down in the bushes," Phil said excitedly. "It was awesome."
"You okay, Tori?" Melinda frowned at her.
"Me? Yeah, of course," Tori laughed. "Why?"
Phil and Melinda glanced at each other. "You've got your arm down a grate, covered in who knows what," Phil pointed out. "Did you lose something?"
"Just an earring," Linda cut in. 'Don't goof this up' she told herself.
"It fell into the grate, and Tori said she'd get it. Russell, my boyfriend, gave them to me before I left. I don't want to lose them, since he gave them to me when I left West Point, and they remind me of him."
"Do you need any help?" Phil asked politely, moving forward.
"We're all good here," Tori said, waving him away. "You two can head back to the guys' dorm for game night. We'll be fine."
To Linda's relief, Phil and Melinda agreed and started off to their destination. Once they were out of earshot, Linda turned to Tori, who had finally found the key. "That went well."
"Minor setback, that's all," Tori assured her, replacing the grate cover. "But maybe locking them in a gym doesn't work. I wonder if we can find an industrial steel holding cell nearby…"
"Tori, we're training to be SHIELD agents. If we get locked in, then we have to find other ways out," she sighed, giving her friend a dirty look. "And we are not locking them in a holding cell."
"Just a thought," Tori grumbled, rolling her eyes. "But I will think of something. Operation Philinda will succeed."
"Operation what?!" Linda stared at the brunette.
"Philinda. Phil and Melinda. It's their names smushed together," Tori explained proudly as she took off across the campus. "I made it up myself."
"You really want them together, don't you?" Linda snorted as she followed her friend.
Hope you enjoyed this! I don't know why, but I see young Victoria Hand being a lot like Darcy Lewis and causing mischief like this!
Next chapter will probably be a little on the sad side, but I plan to do a Thanksgiving one with a turkey going boom!
Thoughts?
